A Stand Out Scrunchie!
In the 90’s scrunchies were the in thing. They were in my 5th grade class anyway. If you were wearing a scrunchie around your wrist or in your hair then you were considered popular in my grade. All the girls in class were constantly putting their hair in a ponytail then pulling the scrunchie out ten minutes later just to throw their hair back up in a ponytail again. I didn’t understand the process but I wanted to be just like the scrunchie girls. I didn’t have scrunchies though so I would watch the girls throw their hair in a colorful scrunchie over and over again daydreaming of the day I would be doing the same. I couldn’t wait to be just like all the popular girls. I could just imagine how cool I would feel. I wanted to live that scrunchie life so bad. If I could just afford a scrunchie then I might have the chance of being popular too. I would finally be noticed.
All the girls with scrunchies stood out.
As a kid I would look for dimes outside in our apartment complex. I did this because if I found 5 dimes I could buy an ice cream at school the following Friday. My friend and I had this deal going where each Friday one of us would buy an ice cream sandwich and split it between the two of us. We switched off every week. She also didn’t have scrunchies. I got the brilliant idea though to save my 5 dimes until I found 11. If I had eleven that would cover the cost of a scrunchie and tax at the dollar store but that meant I would be quitting on my end of the ice cream sandwich deal. I was already sold on the scrunchie I was going to buy at our nearby dollar store though and there was no going back. I didnt think about how it would make my friend feel. It took forever or so it seemed to find all 11 dimes. I was always looking for dimes; on the way to school, on the way home, after school in the apartment complex, during recess and even under our couch cushions. Finally, I found 10 dimes. I only needed one more dime. My neighbor was outside as I was dime hunting. He asked what I was looking for? I told him and he reached in his pocket and pulled out a dime and gave it to me. Like it was nothing! Dimes were a treasured coin in our house but he gave his dime so freely. I remember him really well. He was in high school and a splitting image of Jessie to be honest. He was very kind but often looked sad. His mom had cancer and was so kind too. They were our neighbors. He probably thought I was crazy for the excitement that dime gave me but I didn’t care. I WAS GETTING A SCRUNCHIE!!!!!
Let me tell you! I walked into school the following day with my scrunchie around my wrist, purposefully shaking my hair so that it waved back and forth as I walked. My head was held high. I walked with a huge smile across my face and excitement because soon I would get to throw my hair in a scrunchie 100 times during class like all the other girls. It felt like everyone stopped to look. Everyone noticed me. I finally stood out and it felt great.
Like I said all the girls with scrunchies stood out.
I wasn’t very popular my 5th grade year. There was this girl named Felicia who would pick on me everyday. Looking back I can now see how she picked on everyone. She took a girls purse one day and hid it in the trash can covering it with a ton of tissues. I went and took it out and gave it back to the girl in my class but that was the hardest thing I ever did in the 5th grade. After that moment Felicia would step on the back of my shoes, laugh at me with her friends, pressure me into saying bad words because she knew I was a Christian, and one time she changed all my commas, periods and exclamation points on my paper before turning it in for me. I thought she was being nice for once when she offered to turn my paper in. The girl with the coolest scrunchies was after me. If I had just one scrunchie maybe she would leave me alone. Maybe I would be popular. Those were my thoughts anyway. Sadly, It didn’t work. I was still not popular. I had one really cool scrunchie from the dollar store and still I was not good enough to be a popular girl.
All the girls with scrunchies stood out…. but not me. Why?!?!
Let’s read what Paul had to say in Galatians 1:10
“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Galatians 1:10 NLT
Looking back I realize I was so desperately trying to win the approval of the scrunchie queens. All along God wanted me to see that He already approved of me and called me to stand out in a different way. He wanted me to stand out by standing up for that friend when it was hard. He wanted me to stand out by not using language that didn’t please him. He wanted me to stand out by representing Him by the way I lived my life. He wanted me to stand out by shining my light for Him. I didn’t need a scrunchie to stand out. I only needed to keep trusting Jesus even when it meant I was unpopular and bullied. We miss so much when we try to be something we are not. As we get ready to send Ellie to kindergarten I’m thankful for what the scrunchie has taught me. I know there will be that moment when Ellie realizes she has been called to live apart from the world and it will be challenging for her. I will proudly wrap a scrunchie in her hair or around her wrist and remind her that she was called to be far more than a scrunchie girl but she is forever the girl God has called to stand out for Him. What an honor it is to be able to stand out for Jesus?
Shine4Him 